Packpool medien implements new EyeC ProofText

For more than 20 years, the well-established company has been supporting well-known international customers from the consumer goods and pharmaceutical sectors in two countries in all phases of packaging development and printing technology implementation. 

Faster product life and development cycles, frequently changing artwork from customers, and extensive nutritional and ingredient labeling all add up to significantly increased complexity and the associated risk of errors when creating packaging artwork. 

To maintain its high-quality standards, Packpool initially responded with time-consuming and costly visual quality checks and frequent manual adjustments. However, the existing technology quickly proved frustrating for employees, as the results were still not 100 percent error-free and still required significant manual intervention. The company was looking for a reliable technology that would ensure the early, automated detection of deviations within the prepress stage. At the same time, the new tool had to be a significant time saver, easy to use, and usable in any location, such as in the home office.

‘We needed a sophisticated, fully automated solution for text inspection of our artwork, with the main goal of minimizing the need for manual rework by the operator,’ said Thomas Johner, founder and managing director at Packpool. ‘We have known EyeC for many years and highly appreciate their strong portfolio and profound know-how. Through constant exchange with product management and service, EyeC provided us with an innovative solution tailored to our requirements helping us realize our zero-defect vision.’

The highly automated, web-based artwork proofreading system compares various text sources - mostly HTML briefings - with other files, such as the PDF of the final artwork file or the proof. An intelligent algorithm finds and evaluates discrepancies between documents, including text content and font, regardless of position, structure, and style, even for complex briefings - in just a single process step. 

The system's intuitive usability and innovative interface enable users to review and evaluate complex documents efficiently. In addition, cost-intensive time can be saved by checking multiple documents and different languages simultaneously. ProofText generates a proofing report for tracking and quality assurance purposes for each completed job. These features have been integrated into the final ProofText, ensuring that lengthy review cycles can be reduced and Packpool's prepress process accelerated.

‘The fact that it as a cloud-based application is definitely an added bonus, as a significant portion of the workforce still works remotely,’ added Johner. 

Currently, three employees use the EyeC ProofText as a daily quality control tool within the prepress or work preparation department. From the first briefing to every intermediate check to the finished final artwork, every artwork goes through an inspection with the EyeC ProofText. 

‘No artwork leaves our house before that,’ said Johner. ‘The implementation in our digital work processes and workflows went smoothly. At the same time, we were able to increase the quality of the artwork and significantly optimize the process structure of quality control through exclusively digital checking.’

The next steps include the expansion of ProofText to its sister company Packpool Swiss, focusing on the pharmaceutical packaging and leaflet sectors. In addition, Packpool plans to use further functions that will soon be available with the continuous further development of ProofText.